- If I’m not mistaken, you’ve acted in two films – “Stone Head” and “Paths” by Vladimir Pasichnik?

- Let’s put it like this: I acted in one major film, “Stone Head”. The rest was just episodes.

What brought you to film? Perhaps it was a childhood dream? The wish to try something new? Curiosity.

- Most of all, I had this desire. Without desire a person can’t do anything at all. For me it was a chance to experience a new world, to feel something new. Not everyone gets this opportunity. I felt like a person who was repairing cars yesterday, and tomorrow he gets the chance to fly into space.

- Weren’t you worried that directors would mainly want you for your appearance?

- Of course, I understand that they hope my appearance would attract viewers to their films. But my task is to succeed in what I have taken on. You need to judge by the facts. I take on the responsibility for what I do. And if I’ve taken it on, I’m not embarrassed to ask people who are more experienced in this field that is new for me to help me.

- When I look at you, I think that if I were a director, I would ask you to act in a Shakespearean film. Perhaps a character from “Macbeth” or “King Lear”.

- Really? If a director is talented, then of course he sees something in an actor that the actor does not seem himself. This is the director’s task – to see this and convince the actor that he is capable of doing what the director wants. So the actor gets into the role. A director is like a trainer, a trainer has the same tasks. If we’re talking about boxing, not everyone is born with complete confidence in their powers. This confidence needs to be formed and nurtured. The same goes for actors. There are exceptions, of course. But the majority are constantly growing, just like children grow.

- What films did you like as a child?

- I guess I should start with fairy tales, about Baba Yaga and heroes. I don’t remember my childhood impressions. My cinematic predilections changed just as my views on life changed. I liked “Sherlock Holmes”, and I still do. “In the zone of special attention” and “Reciprocal Move” were great films. “The Ordinary Miracle” and “Three Men in a Boat” were excellent comedies. The films of Gaidai, films with Nevinny and Oleg Yefremov.

- What about western stars? Belmondo, Delon? Eastwood?

- Not so much. Belmondo is really something, of course. I haven’t seen many films starring Delon, but he is a great actor. Clint Eastwood is magnificent. He’s a kind of gentleman bandit. A real aristocrat in life, you see this in every role he plays. When he puts on a dinner jacket… Yes, he’s a gentleman, a gentleman of fortune.

- It seemed to me that in “Stone Head” you were slightly ironic about your character, and gave him similarities with Frankenstein’s monster as played by Boris Karloff – in the way you moved and talked.

- No, I haven’t seen “Frankenstein”. But there were certain elements of mocking Yegor. Although “mocking” is probably not the right word. I felt truly sorry for him. But this happened because I considered myself to be a normal, full and adequate person. And the role of Yegor did not fit my inner world: the way he talks and moves. I’m different, I don’t want to be compared with Yegor. Although I do have a nasal voice. But that’s because I have large sinuses. That’s the way God made me. Incidentally, because of this, when I hear my voice I always hate it. But it was suitable for the film. You always need to understand how movement and the voice affects the role. There are actors who can play anyone. But I’m not like that, I have a certain niche.

- Do you intend to continue acting?

- I have plans to appear in a feature film with the working title “True Life Fairy Tale”. I’ve been offered the role of Ilya Muromets in the modern world, where he has to survive and fit in with its realities. This world is hateful to him, but he is forced to live in it. I’ll regret it very much if I’m not able to act in this film because of preparations for fights.

- Viewers see boxing matches as a kind of theater. Is this a correct view?

- Everyone boxes differently. Only a handful of boxers regard it as theater. They are the great boxers, the boxers from God: Roy Jones, Shuger. I don’t have this in me.

- What about Mohammed Ali?

- He always acts. He’s the greatest.

- What does cinema mean for you, as an outsider?

- I’ll answer that using someone else’s words: the world of cinema is the art of deceiving the viewer beautifully. The world of cinema and the world of theater are completely different. In theater there is no right to make a mistake, everything takes place online there. I found it very interesting to see how a film is created: it’s a lengthy, difficult and work-intensive process, but it justifies itself. As a result something becomes art, like in sport. Yes, cinema is high art, but it’s a beautiful deception, and the idea of it is to make sure no one can guess how it was made.

- Where are there more back-stage intrigues and scheming – in cinema or sport?

- Intrigues and scheming exist everywhere and always, to one degree or another. Cinema is simply one side of human life. And human nature is the same everywhere.

- Could you say that you’ve got hooked on cinema, that it lures you?

- Yes, it does lure me. But I’m not hooked on it, I’m not that involved in it. There are probably prerequisites for becoming hooked on cinema, but not in my case. I have 20 years’ experience as a sportsman, but I can’t say that I’m completely hooked on sport. I smoked for four years and gave it up because it got in my way. People can get hooked on something if they’re forcibly injected. But voluntarily… You understand what I mean. I’m a philosopher. Everything flows, everything changes. Sport will come to an end. Cinema may also come to an end. We don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow. But by working in cinema or sport, we gain knowledge.